The invention relates to an apparatus for slicing material, preferably pieces of meat or fish, especially sides of lox. More particularly, it relates to such a device having a cutting station and a transport device which guides the material to be cut through the cutting station.
In order to obtain slices with a large area, sides of lox are cut at an angle into slices that are approximately paper-thin. The cut lox is packaged and sold in ready-to-serve form. Factory processing, especially of sides of lox, requires devices that are capable of cutting large amounts of lox into thin slices.
There are devices known which work with rotating blades and have the advantage that the thickness of the individual slices can be adjusted. But the delicate and sensitive meat of salmon requires that it be cut in a slightly frozen state, due to the pulling action of the rotating blades. This requires that the meat be frozen and refrozen several times, which is known to damage the meat, during factory processing. By freezing the material to be cut, relatively large ice crystals are produced which can destroy the protein. The material to be cut, whether fish or meat, becomes mushy and requires layers of paper to be placed between the individual slices, so that the slices do not stick together.
Another device is known, with which the meat or fish, especially sides of lox, can also be cut in the fresh, non-frozen state. The known device works with a cutting grid consisting of knife blades arranged parallel to one another, which stands at a slant in order to cut the material at an angle. The cutting grid is moved up and down to produce the cutting ation. A side of lox is passed through the moving cutting grid and cut into individual slices. The known device does have the advantage that non-frozen material can be sliced. But it is disadvantageous in that the thickness of the slices cannot be adjusted. This is because the distance between the individual, parallel knife blades of the cutting grid is preset. The cutting angle and the cutting thickness are therefore not adjustable. It is also disadvantageous that when the cutting grid is moved up and down, the closely adjacent knife blades cause smearing and adhesion effects. In addition, it is difficult to maneuver the cut slices onto a plate necessary for shipment and packaging. Such actions are particularly needed when salmon or similar goods are processed on a factory scale, since the thin slices are difficult to handle.